


The Truth Beneath the Rose

by FadedSouls (aceetha)



Series: The Truth Beneath The Rose [1]
Category: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: M/M, Multi, Roseverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-27
Updated: 2010-04-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 04:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceetha/pseuds/FadedSouls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Brian, what started like an ordinary day turned out to be anything but when a stranger brushes by him on the subway, leaving him with a vision of her death. Now, together with his closest friends, he must race against time to figure out who she is and where she is going to die, if he is to have any chance of getting to her before it's too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a part of BittyBang 2008.

The heavy winds were slamming the shutters against the wall, whipping the rain along with them. Thunder could be heard in the distance, and every now and then the sky would light up for a second or two, lightning flashing overhead. Inside candles lit up every room, the power out because of the storm.

In a small bedroom off to the side of the main room, two small children - maybe around four and six - were finally asleep, two hours after their bedtime. They parents, a blonde woman of medium build and weight who looked to be in her early thirties, and a thin tall man with dark hair, who looked to be about the same age, were sitting down in the living room, enjoying the sounds of the wind and rain against their windows as they watched the candles burned and enjoyed a glass of red wine in each others company.

Around them were a clutter of cardboard boxes, some opened and some taped shut, all of them marked with heavy red or green pen; 'kitchen, living room, mom's china, pictures, toys -&gt; KIDS ROOM ONLY, daddy's magazines, dvd's'. The house had a definite 'just moved in' feel to it, yet the storm somehow made the two parents feel much more at home. So even as the storm sounded like it was about to take the shutters with it, and perhaps even the roof, they found the time to sit down and enjoy each others company, instead or running about trying to get the house in order. There were plenty of time for that another day.

As another lightning flashed across the sky, they could hear what sounded like the massive roar of an engine pulling up outside. The husband sat his glass down on the make-shift table, and walked over to look outside. A large black car had just pulled up outside across the street, and the driver was running towards the door, clutching something in this right hand. As the light in the car dimmed, he thought he saw someone sitting in the passenger seat, leaving their head against the window and looking up at the house.

Suddenly lightning flashed again, and he thought he heard a faint popping sound. Then something flashed again, but it wasn't lightning he realized. The flashes of light came from the living room windows of the house across the street. Curious, he pressed his face closer to the window, just as there was another flash, followed by the same weird popping sound. But this time he thought he had seen someone else inside the room. Straining his eyes to see through the darkness and the rain, there was one more flash, and what he saw made him jump back from the window.

In a split second, as the flash lighted up the room, and he seen someone lying on the floor, and another person standing over them, pointing something down at the person on the floor. There had only been light for a second, but he was sure of what he had seen. The person standing over the other had been pointing a gun down. And with that realization came another.

The flashes of light. The popping sound.

He had just witnessed a murder.


	2. Part One

The day started like any other. Having gone to bed some time in the middle of the night, again, Brian Littrell once again barely resisted the urge to throw his alarm clock through the room, and settled instead on setting it to snooze another ten minutes before getting up. Once out of bed, he ran through the shower and brushed his teeth while skimming through the paper, before he threw on the first decent outfit he could find and headed for the door. He had a full time job at the local coffee shop - Café Marielle - and his shift usually started around nine in the morning.

Having tried, and failed, at the whole business career man type of thing, Brian had settled on a job with decent pay that was close to home and didn't require many extra skills. He had worked there for a good two years now, and was second only to the manager, which meant that when he was twenty minutes late to work due to sleeping in for ten minutes, it was usually not a very big deal. And as usual, today was another day where he came running through the back door a few minutes after his shift had started, receiving a "good morning Brian" followed by a grin as welcome from the manager, who now didn't even need to look up from his desk to know who it was that came running through the door. Most other places would probably not like Brian's continued tardiness, but here the relaxed atmosphere and the fact that there always seemed to be one too many people working anyway meant that he didn't have to fear for his job.

Around noon a really tall blond man and a not so tall and heavily tattooed somewhat balding dark haired man walked through the door, both smiling to the other staff as they walked right through to the back room to find Brian going over the inventory or sending in an order. "Ready to go?" Nick - the tall blond - asked, poking Brian in the ribs and grinning down at him. "Hey," AJ - the not so tall heavily tattooed somewhat balding dark haired one - said at the same time, grabbing Brian's jacket from behind the door and handing it to him.

"Two seconds," Brian answered, and hit send on his little hand held ordering device. Taking his jacket from AJ, he stuck his head into the managers office and handed him the hand-held device. "I sent the order, and am now going out to lunch. Be back in an hour." The manager looked up from his papers and took the hand-held device from him. "It'll probably be two hours," he said with a grin, "but don't worry, I know where to find you if there is a crisis." Brian grinned back at him, and waved good bye as he felt through the backdoor with Nick and AJ.

They were headed to lunch where they always ate, at Nick and AJ's bar The BoneDry, named so after a night of heavy drinking and quite a few disasters, the most unforgettable involving shaving of hair and super glue. Who actually came up with the name was something no one to this day could remember, but that didn't really matter either. The two of them had been talking about opening a bar for as long as Brian could remember, but it was first when they agreed on a name that their dream actually looked like it might become a reality.

Generally most bars wouldn't be open in the middle of the day, but the BoneDry is different. It opens around noon, and throughout the day you can order sandwiches, burgers and fries to go with your alcohol. Justin, another tall blond they had met around the same time as the bar had been named, was already there when they arrived. He had worked there for as long as the bar had been open, and was now in charge of opening during the day, and making sure their other two employees were there when they were supposed to during the day. Justin liked to call himself a manager, Nick and AJ jut called him a barista.

Of the other four employees, only one was usually there when Nick, AJ and Brian arrived for lunch every day. Chris, sometimes bartender but mostly chef, arrived for the lunch hour, and stuck around for the rest of the day usually. Not including the few hour nap he usually had in the back around dinner time, before heading back to the kitchen for a few hours in the early evening. The other two bartenders, Sam and Dean, worked part time, usually splitting the week between them and alternating so they both had at least every other weekend off. The last employee was Marcus, the bouncer slash handyman. If it needed fixing, Marcus would take care of it, and if it needed throwing out, he would make sure the person went without so much as a word of argument. He only worked from around dinner time, six or seven p.m., until closing, which was usually around one thirty am.

Whenever they arrived, Chris would usually already be well on his way making their lunch sandwiches, knowing from experience what each of the would eat, and how much of everything should go on. Brian liked his ham and cheese, but would not touch the thing unless there was also a lot of butter, mayonnaise and fresh cucumber slices on it. Nick and AJ were more easy going. Nick would eat just about anything, but favored chicken and curry with a bit of fresh iceberg lettuce these days, and AJ just loved a good old fashioned BLT.

After lunch, Brian would usually stick around a lot longer than he should, and would be back at work at least half an hour late, sometimes even longer. Knowing he was damn lucky to have the boss he had, he would almost always stay longer and work harder than he actually had to, and would never leave the place unless it looked spotless in the back, everything stacked neatly where it belonged.

He never had the late shifts, and was usually out of there by five or six p.m. Returning home to have a quick shower and change his clothes, he was always back at the bar by eight, ready to spend his evenings in the company of his friends. Usually they would all meet up at the bar, and go from there if they had other plans. Although either Nick, AJ or Justin always had to stay at the bar until it closed, the other two were usually always up for something.

Brian was the one who almost always arrived first at the bar, not including the people who actually worked there (although sometimes when he arrived Chris would still be napping in the back). Howie D was usually not far behind, the benefits of having a high paying job at a big realtor business allowing him to set his own work hours for the most part, which usually included starting late, having a long lunch, and leaving whenever he wanted, which was usually around seven so he could be at the bar by eight thirty.

Joey arrived around nine thirty as well, having returned home right after work to have dinner with his wife and spend some time with her before he went off to meet his friends, and she went out shopping or something with her friends. JC - artiste extraordinaire - would arrive around nine, wearing at least one piece of clothing that would make you want to claw your eyes out, and that AJ would eventually borrow and forget to return.

Lance was usually never far behind JC, and had a tendency to come straight from his ´work´, which included bringing the props he had needed at ´work´that day. Being a hobby-activist meant he would fight for just about any cause, and would gladly stand in the same place for hours in pouring rain or freezing snow, waving a poster or banner around, refusing to move and chanting away whatever catchy phrase they had made up this time. Though some might think this hypocritical, Lance loved demonstrating, loved being an activist, and whatever the cause might be, he would give all of himself for the cause for as long as it lasted, until he found something else to throw himself into. He didn´t make any money off this, which was why he had his little side business online, selling pictures, calendars and the like, which earned him enough money so he didn´t have to worry about bills and the like. Which was a good thing, since he shared a place with JC, who had nothing that could be considered a steady income.

Bringing up the rear was Kevin, Brian´s cousin (he had known him all his life), and the reason Brian had moved to New York in the first place. Kevin was an environmental lawyer, working for some organization or another, fighting big businesses who only cared about profit and didn´t give a fuck about the environment or regulations or anything like that. The job paid Kevin just enough to live comfortably, and that was all he cared about, that and his bike, which he rode just about everywhere in his black, tight little bike shorts and red and black bike jackets, his suits all at the office and his ´normal´clothes in the backpack he brought everywhere. He even had one or two clean changes of clothes at the bar, just in case it was raining and his backpack got soaked.

Whatever they decided to do for the evening, by nine or nine thirty they were all gathered at the bar, talking and having fun, discussing where they were going, what they had done that day, if JC would ever actually have his big break and when it happened, would it be because of a painting or a sculpture or his clothes or something else entirely, would Kevin ever forget to wear his helmet, and would Howie ever answer the question of weather or not his family was one of those families, the kind that could make you disappear if they didn´t like you.

Whatever they ended up doing, by midnight people had started drifting off to bed. Joey and Kevin were usually the first ones to leave, Joey to go home to his wife, and Kevin to go home to his case files and his bed. The others would follow in no particular order, whoever was closing the bar bringing up the rear. This was usually either Nick or AJ, since Justin had been there since lunch, and Sam or Dean´s shifts ended at eleven thirty.

**********

Like any other day, Nick and AJ had picked Brian up from work, and they had headed over to the bar to get some lunch. Chris had had their sandwiches ready when they arrived, and Howie had surprised them by dropping but for a quick bite to eat as well, before he had to head back to the office.

Brian had only been fifteen minutes late back from lunch, which had surprised his manager, but still stayed almost an hour longer than his shift lasted, trying to organize their new shipment in the too-small storeroom in the back. Heading back home he stopped by the grocery store to get some essentials, flirting with Hannah the forty-something divorcee at the register and Jake the bag-boy who insisted on packing everything neatly even though Brian always said he didn´t need to. Once back home he took a quick shower, put on some jeans and a nice pink shirt (a present from his mom) and some worn down sneakers he kept hiding whenever Kevin or his mother were around in fear they would toss them out due to the fact they were currently held together by super glue.

Checking himself in the mirror on the way out he fixed the few strands of hair that never cooperated, and slammed the door shut behind him, running to the nearest subway stop to catch the line going to the bar so he didn´t have to walk, again.

The subway was packed with people going somewhere, and he decided against trying to find a place to sit, and was instead content on finding a place to stand where everyone wasn´t bumping into him all the time. He had his iPod on, and was listening to the album Kevin had given him, trying to give it a proper listen-through before he deleted it. His eyes was half closed, his mind trying to escape the horrors that was track number four, when the train stopped, the doors opened, and someone bumped into him, tripping a little and grabbing his arm to catch themselves before they fell. A shiver ran down his spine as the person stepped off the subway, imaged flashed before his eyes as the doors closed, and in his head he could hear a sharp noise, clear as day, as the subway moved towards the next stop.

_´BANG!´_


	3. Part Two

A lot can happen in the space between two seconds.

_Laughter filled the room, as three small children were playing, the entire family gathered to celebrate. His eyes shone blue from the sunlight coming through the windows, and she leaned in to kiss him. The room shifted, became her office, where her boss smiled at her as he handed her the six month review, and she was given two thumbs up from a man standing right behind her boss. A flash of light brought her to the street at night, where she was walking alone, looking nervously around now and then. Shifted again, this time to her living room, sitting in his arms, watching a movie, warm and comfortable. Happy. Loved. The gunfire on the TV was muted, and then there was just the barrel of a gun. Silence. No faces. No emotions. Just the gun. BANG!_

In the eternity between one second and the next, images and emotions from a woman´s present and future ran like shivers up and down Brian´s spine, until a loud ´bang´ ended that future, forever. As the doors closed and the subway started to move again, Brian scrambled to the nearest window, looking through to the people passing by faster and faster on the other side, trying to find the woman who´s future he had seen.

The gunshot from his vision was still ringing in his ears, as he tried to focus, tried to find her again. But there were too many people, too many women who could be her, and he had never seem her face. He knew nothing about her, except what some of the people in her life looked like, which did not mean much in a city like this. The only real thing he knew about her was that sometime in the near future, she would end her life staring down the barrel of a gun.

He tried to focus his mind, see if he could find the vision again without her touching him, to try and get more information out of it. He closed his eyes, tried to will something to happen, but nothing did. Refusing to give up, he almost missed his stop, and barely got out through the doors before they closed again.

With everything he had seen running through his mind he hurried the last ten minutes to the bar, hoping some of the others were already there. He needed to sit down, needed to write down what he knew, to clear his head and get it all sorted on paper. And he needed a drink. A strong one.

**********

"Where the hell is Chris?". Nick looked up from his book to find AJ leaning over the bar, his face no more than three inches away from his, an annoyed look on his face. "Probably still napping in the back," he answered, and tried to return to his book, but found it hard to do when AJ snagged it out of his hands. "It´s not napping when you have been at it for four hours" AJ said, using the book as a fan. "Well, he was up about an hour ago to piss, so technically he is now napping," Nick countered, and made a grab for his book. Holding it away from Nick, AJ shook his head. "Why the hell does he need to sleep, I mean nap for anyway?" he asked, holding the book as high and far away from Nick as he could. "Dude, he works like twelve hour shifts or something," Nick said in mid lounge, deciding to make a more aggressive move to get his book back. "True" AJ said, jumping back to watching Nick take a tumble over the bar and down on the floor, and was ready to make a run for it with the book when Nick got to his feet. "Why does he do that again?" he asked, trying to get Nick to forget the book. For a second, it seemed to work, Nick stood up, but didn´t continue to chase him down, and he had his should-be-trademarked ´I am thinking´ look on his face. After a few seconds he just shrugged. "Cause there is no way we would eat anything made by Justin, and Sam and Dean would rather quit than cook," he said. "Right" AJ said, and made the mistake of taking his eyes off Nick. Before he could continue to say something like ´you´re right about that one´, Nick had effectively tackled him to the ground, snapped his book from AJ´s hand, and was doing a dance around AJ, waving the book in the air.

Getting to his feet, AJ was already planning his next move when the sound of a glass being slammed on the counter made him loose his train of thought. They both turned to find Justin standing behind the bar, both eyebrows raised and what passed for an annoying look on his face. "I never thoughts I´d say this, but damn am I glad we don´t have any customers right now. Seriously you guys!" Nick fought to hold back laughter, and AJ tried his best to keep a straight face as he gave Justin what he hoped passed for an apologetic smile. "Sorry, got a bit carried away there."

Nick looked like he was about to say something else, but they were interrupted by Brian, who came half-running through the door, looking white as a ghost, and breathing heavily like a man who had just been running for his life. "What is it?" Nick asked, rushing over to take his bag from him and hand him the glass of water Justin handed him. AJ, knowing what usually caused Brian´s lack of complexion, jumped over the bar and readied a nice strong shot of JD for Brian, handing that to Nick as well, before putting a hand on Justin´s shoulder, in a low voice asking him to go wake Chris from his nap.

**********

Brian had been running all the way from his stop, darting in between the people who all seemed to be going in the other direction than him. He had been cursed at by old ladies who all seemed to think he should slow down, and had almost tripped over not one, but three little rat-like dogs who all seemed to favor walking directly in front of people who were moving a hundred times faster than they were. And all the time while he was running he was going over and over the vision in his hear, trying to make sense of it all, trying to remember every little detail, trying to remember something that could help him identify her.

By the time he made it to the bar, he was so out of breath he couldn't´t seem to form a single word. Thankfully his friends all seemed to know something related to his ´special gift´(as Justin liked to call it) had happened, and how to handle it. Sitting down he gratefully took the glass of water from Nick, drinking slowly, only taking a small sip at a time so he wouldn´t choke on it, and tried to calm his breathing and wet his throat to a point where would actually be able to speak without sounding like a ninety year old man who had been smoking for most of his life.

Once his breathing was mostly under control, and his throat didn´t feel like the Sahara, he downed the JD shot that had mysteriously appeared in front of him (making a mental note to thank AJ later). As he put the shot glass down on the bar again, Chris and Justin were there, both his concerned looks on their faces. Nick had sat down on the stool next to him, and now put his arm around Brian´s shoulder, hugging him closer. "What did you see?" he asked, and everyone's eyes turned to Brian, no one saying a word, just waiting for his answer.


	4. Part Three

This was not the first time something like this had happened. This was the not the first time he had come running into the bar because he had seen something too terrible, too horrible, or too sad, to deal with on his own. This was not the first time the others had gathered around him, handing him what he needed without him having to ask, and sitting there silently, not saying a word (which, with both Nick and Justin in the room, was a bit or a miracle), waiting for him to talk. Waiting for him to tell them what he had seen this time.

The last time it had been because he had known, from only a handshake, that the girlfriend of one of his coworkers was going to get diagnosed with cancer, and most likely die from it, just like her mother and aunt had, and there was nothing he could do or say about it, because no one there knew about what he could do, and either way she would find out later that same day, the day after they got engaged (which was the reason she had been introduced to everyone that day), and he knew, he just knew, that she would die before they got married.

Sometimes he hated what he could do, hated it because for the most part, there was nothing he could do about what he saw. He could have told his coworker about his gift, could have told him about the cancer, but in the end, it wouldn´t change her fate. She would still die, and for his coworker, it would still hurt like hell, knowing about Brian´s gift or not. Most of the time, he had to share the horrors, because keeping them to himself to tear him apart in the end. He needed to share, needed to tell, needed to have someone else who could tell him there was nothing he could do.

But this time it was different. This time, there was something he could do. He had seen her future, and as far as he knew, it was not her immediate, will-happen-today future. He didn´t know how he knew, but something inside kept telling him he had time, not a lot of it, but still, he had time. Time to do something. Time to help her. Time to try.

**********

He kept looking past their heads as he told them about his vision, kept staring at nothing. He tried to tell them as much as he could remember about his vision, and about the woman it belonged to. He told them about her family, her husband, who had blue eyes that sparkled in the sunlight, and her three children, a boy and two girls, who smiled and laughed and played and were happy. He told them about how she was doing well in her job, and would probably be getting a raise in pay one of these days. He tried to remember what the office had looked like, but it was as if the focus had been off when the picture had been taken and placed in his head, because he couldn´t seem to see it properly at all. It was just the face of her boss, and the coworker who gave her two thumbs up, smiling and being happy for her.

He had to pause for a second after that, and drink a little more water. He was now getting to the hard part. The part he wish he hadn´t seen. Downing the JD shot that once again seemed to appear out of nowhere (Chris to thank this time), he started talking again. He tried to remember the details, but for some reason they seemed more blurred now, like they were slowly fading away from his mind, even as the sound of the gunshot was ringing louder and louder in his head.

He remember her walking, feeling worried, nervous, like she thought she was being followed. But then she had been happy again, with her family again. And then there was just her, and the gun, and then just the gun, and a flash of light. BANG!

He felt a hand touch his shoulder gently, and leaned into the touch a little, giving AJ a grateful smile. "We have to save her," he said, and when no one answered him, he said again, his voice a little louder, and more commanding, "We HAVE to save her!"

**********

After his declaration, no one had said anything for what seemed like hours, they were all just standing there, looking at each other, all seemingly deep in thought. It was a customer who brought them out of their collective silence. They had no idea when he had entered the bar, or how long he had been standing there waiting to get served, but he finally gave up waiting for them to notice him. "Excuse me!" He had talked in a regular voice, but it rang out in the otherwise deathly quiet bar. Justin seemed startled, and jumped a little before he quickly moved over to take the mans order. He wanted food, so Chris quickly retreated back to their small kitchen to make him a sandwich. It was getting late in the day, but food was available until nine, and if you asked nicely, and Chris was in a good mood, he would make food as long as they were open.

Nick and AJ didn´t move, but instead sat down an either side of him, both well within his comfort zone, Nick leaning up against him and putting his head on Brian´s shoulder, and AJ resting his hand at the small of Brian´s back, moving it in a small, circular motion that Brian found soothing.

Having handed the customer his beer, Justin came back, with a determined look on his face. "I got an idea," he said. The other three looked up at him. "Shoot," AJ said. "We go back," Justin said, and held out his arms, as if the three words were the answer to everything. "What do you mean?" Nick asked. "We go back to where this happened, and you see if you can pick up something else. Something that will tell us something more about this mystery woman. Because right now, we got nothing." Nick shook his head. "You know he can´t just turn it on like that Justin. It doesn´t work that way." Justin didn´t have to say anything in reply to that, because his face had a very clear ´I know that!´ expression, complete with glaring eyes and raised eyebrows. Nick looked like he was about to make a smart remark when Brian put his hand over Nick´s on the bar.

"He´s right," he said to Nick, and continued before Nick had time to argue with him. "I know I know Nick, you are right, I can´t just turn it on whenever I feel like it, but this feels different. I barely touched this woman, or she barely touched me. It doesn´t matter. Thing is, from that little touch I got all of this. Even after she was long gone, I could still feel the gunshot in the air, you know. The emotions surrounding this are so strong, they might still be there. Anything else she might have touched could still have some residue of this vision, of her future. I might still be able to pick something up. And you know that even if I can´t turn it on whenever, if I really concentrate, I can enhance it somewhat, if there is already something there."

He looked from Nick to Justin to AJ, and then noticed that at some point during his little speech, Chris had returned from the kitchen. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "Soon as Dean gets here, we´ll all go with you" AJ added, and the three others nodded. "Dean was here yesterday, so I think it´s Sam´s day, but even so, we still can´t just leave him alone," Brian said to them. He liked their plan, but just didn´t see the need in them abandoning their work just to hold his hand while he searched for answers. "OK, You three go, and I´ll stay here," Chris said, making the decision about what to do for all of them. "Besides, when the others arrive, I can fill them in as well, so we can all brainstorm together when you get back," he added with a nod. "Now go, Sam´s here, or will be once he stops staring at the cute blond who is currently walking by our front door." Turing, they could see Sam standing with one hand on the doorknob, the other running through his out-of-control hair, his head turned all the way so he could look at the cute blond as she was walking away down the street.

Brian got to his feet, and beside him, Nick and AJ did the same, but he was grateful that AJ kept his hand where it was, needing the contact. Justin had somehow made it to the back, and came back with Nick´s and AJ´s jackets, and together they left the bar, AJ´s hand returning to his lower back after he had removed it to take on his jacket. AJ stayed at his side, Nick and Justin fell in behind them, and there they walked, in silence, letting Brian lead them to where they were going to find their answers.

**********

They had walked most of the way in silence, first to the closest subway station, and then taking the train three stops back to where the woman had left the train. Stepping out onto the platform, Brian stopped, looking around, and then turned to the others. "I guess this is where I begin," he said, and glanced around. "So what are you gonna do?" Justin asked. He knew as much as most of them did about Brian´s gift, but he had never actually witnessed Brian trying to do something like this before.

"I try to concentrate while touching random objects, hoping the vision was powerful enough to leave some kind of residue behind. And crossing my fingers there won´t bee too many strong emotions connected to this place," Brian answered, and walked over to the nearest trash can, letting his fingers run over it in a slow but flowing movement. "What does he mean by emotions?" Justin asked AJ and Nick. "You know how he sometimes knows random things about you, or seems to be reading your mind?" Nick said, keeping his voice low as if it would make a difference to Brian´s concentration if one of the maybe thirty people at the platform tried to be silent. "Yeah," Justin said, waiting for Nick to actually answer his question. "Aside from the whole ´telling your fortune´ thing he´s got going, he can also pick up on your emotions sometimes. And really strong ones, like hate and shit, leaves an imprint or something. Like, he can sense stuff that happened after it actually happened." "Which is wicked cool sometimes," AJ interrupted, "but in this case, it could fuck with the powerful energy of the vision. So, something that happened in the past can hide or cover up of just make it really hard to find the stuff that is going to happen in the future."

"So, he´s touching things she might have touched?" Justin looked from Nick to AJ. "Yeah," Nick answered as AJ gave an affirmative shrug. "Then what´s he doing over by the probably urine-infested bench? Cause I´m telling you, there´s no way she came within three feet of that thing!"

**********

_He kissed her hard as she sat down on his lap, straddling him on the bench. It was late, and there was no one around, and even if there had been, they wouldn´t have cared, or noticed. His hands move up her back, cradling her head, moving her gently into a deeper kiss. They moved down again, before coming back up, taking her t-shirt with it. He threw it carelessly on the ground next to them, and leaned out a little to allow her to remove his own shirt, which joined hers on the ground. She opened his fly, while he pushed her miniskirt up, moving her small thong to the side so he could access her easily. She was massaging him through his silk boxers, working on getting him hard, getting him ready. He deepened the kiss even more, and pulled her entire body closer to him, onto him._

Brian pulled his hand back quickly, as if the bench had burned him. Panting a little, he rubbed a hand over his face, shaking his head. He felt flushed, and was unsure if it was because he was blushing from having witnessed a very personal moment (even if it had taken place in a very public place) or if it was because even though he was very much gay, he had still found the private picture show he had going on in his head to be very hot and was currently maybe just a little turned on, sick as that may be.

"What did you see?" They had obviously seen his reaction, because now all three were hovering over him, concerned looks on their faces, all three ready to take him and hold him tight and never let go if that was what he needed. He turned to look at AJ, who had been the one to ask the question. "Nothing relating to her," he answered, and made a move to continue searching. "It was something though, right?" Justin asked, placing a hand on his forearm, holding him back without actually restraining him. "Just very three-dimensional, surround-sound at maximum sex. Nothing I haven´t seen before. Usually a lot of strong emotions connected to sex, so I tend to pick it up easy. Unfortunately for me, people like to have sex in the weirdest of public places. You don´t even want to know what goes on in the bathroom of that restaurant you like so much, or the clubs for that matter. Or the bakery."

Leaving Justin with a few mental images he may or may not have wanted, he moved over to the nearest column, continuing what they had come there for. Nick followed closely behind him, ready to jump in whenever he might be needed for something. This was not his first field-trip, or his tenth for that matter, so he knew to stay close to Brian at all times. AJ was looking from the bench to Justin. Shaking his head, he grabbed Justin and started dragging him in the direction Brian and Nick were moving. "Damn! Never thought I´d wish I had your gift thingy Brian. But DAMN! I so wish I could see that! Free fucking porn!"

Two more incidents of very public sex, a post-breakup breakdown, five beatings and a heart attack later, Brian felt like his head was going to explode, and he was nowhere closer to finding out anything about his mystery woman. Whoever she was, she had walked across the platform without touching anything. Brian wasn´t sure of much at this point, but that he knew for a fact. Whoever she was, and wherever she had gone after leaving the train, if she had touched anything, some residue would still he there. The vision he had experienced had been so powerful, it would have left something behind somewhere else. He just needed to find it, needed to find something she had touched, or brushed up against, or been in contact with in any way.

As he had stopped walking, and was just standing there, looking absently around, trying to figure out if there was anything else she could have touched, Nick walked up behind him. Turning him around, Nick ran his hands through is hair, and then gently rubbed two finger against his temples, trying to ease his headache. AJ and Justin were standing right behind Nick, both ready to help out if Brian needed it. "Nothing," Brian said, looking at his friends. "I got nothing on her. I´ve tried and tried and nothing I touch give me anything. And my head is going to explode. And I just want to lie down and sleep for a week!"

"Don´t give up yet," AJ said, and looked around. "Why not?" Brian asked, his voice sounding defeated. "Because we´ve only searched the platform. Still got the stairs leading up, and places close to the stairs up on the street. So now all we gotta do, and by we I mean you, are to pick a stairwell and start touching the hell out of it!" Brian had to laugh a little, but regretted it as once, as his head actually seemed to explode a little when he did. Making a quick decision, he picked the stairs closest to him, walked over, and started doing exactly what AJ had said he should do, touching the hell out of them.

**********

_She was standing in her office, smiling, looking at all the people around her, congratulating her on her promotion. Her boss shook her hand, and a woman gave her a hug, smiling from ear to ear. All around her she was surrounded by happy and smiling people. She sat down on the couch, letting her husband lie his head on her lap as they watched something on TV, relaxing in the near silence, the television the only sound in the room, the kids asleep. A waiter showed them a bottle of wine, and she nodded, happy with the choice. She spoke to the man sitting opposite her, and he put his newspaper down, focusing all his attention on her. He said goodbye outside the restaurant, gave her an awkward kiss on the cheek before getting into a waiting black SUV, as she hailed a cab._

Brian sat down, unable to say anything as the others ran over to him. He had been touching the stairs for the past half an hour, and was pretty sure at some point only AJ, Nick or Justin´s glares had made people keep walking without questioning what the hell he was doing. At some point a police officer had seemed a little too interested in him, until Justin had explained that he was looking for his wife's favorite earring, which she was sure she had lost somewhere around here. Clearly he must have looked whipped or something, as the man hadn´t even noticed his distinctive lack of wedding band, or how he was so exhausted he must look like he was coming off some sort of high.

The other three were by his side in a moment, Nick dropping down next to him on the stairs, AJ and Justin leaning over him, concerned looks on all their faces. "You find something, or giving up?" Nick asked, keeping his voice low, which was either to keep the people who were now definitely staring from hearing anything, or because he knew that Brian´s senses were so sensitive now even a near whisper sounded like Nick was screaming in his ears. "I got something," he answered, and was surprised to hear just how much relief was in his voice when he said it. He had been so set on finding something, he had ignored the fact that he was close to falling over from exhaustion.

"Well, spill!" Justin prodded impatiently, which caused AJ to give him a not-so-soft nudge. Nick looked like he was about to say something as well, but kept his mouth shut and let Brian set the pace. "It was mostly more of what I already saw, and stuff that doesn´t really help us. It was from when she got promoted, which I am pretty sure already happened. Then she was home with her husband, watching TV, which was not helpful at all. But, there was something." He stopped to take a few breaths. He felt winded, even though he hadn´t really been doing anything other than walking around and touching things for the part hour and a half. He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the pain, but figured the only thing that would really help was sleeping for twelve hours straight. He smiled as Nick laid his head on his shoulder, and gave him a soft kiss on the neck. "Take your time," he said, and gave him a reassuring smile. "She went to a restaurant yesterday," Brian said after a few moments, letting his hands fall down to rest on his knees. "How do you know it was yesterday?" Justin asked, squatting down so he was at Brian´s eye level. "Because whoever she was there with was reading the paper, and I recognized the front page," he answered with a smile. "And that´s not all," he continued, "I know which restaurant they went to, and I´m pretty sure I´ll recognize anything they touched, or at the very least, find the table they sat at!"


	5. Part Four

When they returned to the bar, everyone else were there waiting for them, and by the looks of it, Chris had already been helpful and told everyone what was going on. They were seated at one of the larger corner tables, located close to the bar and the door to the back. With Dean behind the counter alone, Chris kept a half-eye on the bar to make sure no one was kept waiting too much. But since it was a weekday, they weren´t packed, and most of the people there where considered regulars.

As they walked over the the table, JC got up from his chair to make room for Brian, and squeezed down in between Lance and Howie instead, sitting mostly on Howie´s lap, looking quite comfortable. Brian gave JC a grateful smile as he fell down into the chair, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he gathered his strength to go over everything again. He didn´t want to do it, and was more that happy to let Nick, AJ and Justin fill them in on everything they had done leading up to his second vision, silently listening to them, taking small sips from a glass of water Dean had sat down in front of him on his way to a nearby table to take a beautiful woman´s order (people usually walked to the bar to order, but Dean had a habit of walking to the pretty women instead of waiting for them to come to him).

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and realized they had finished their part of the story, and it was his turn to talk about his vision again. He did his best to explain it in as much detail as he could remember. He told about the promotion party, if you could call it that. He described the boss in as much detail as he could (taller than her, slender built but with broad shoulders, so he probably worked out, dark hair, short, dark eyes, probably Latin-American, handsome), and the hugging co-worker as well (maybe 10 pounds overweight, but still pretty, brunette, didn´t know the eye color, Caucasian, all smiles, touchy feely, seemed like one of those people who were always happy and smiling). He moved on to the domestic scene, which in truth he didn´t think told him much at all. He knew they needed a new decorator for their living room (the mismatched colors alone would probably make even Lance want to tear his eyes out, and he had been known to find some of JC´s outrageous outfits appealing), but aside from how the interior looked, it gave him nothing in regards to who she was.

The restaurant scene was his main focus. It had taken him two seconds to recognize the place as being the same place Kevin had taken him to celebrate when he got his promotion years ago, before the unfortunate eyebrow incident that took place later that evening (Kevin was still traumatized about that one, and seemed to flinch whenever he saw Nick or AJ with a razor). "Are you sure?" Kevin asked, avoiding looking at Nick and AJ to a point where he might as well be giving them the full on Kevin-glare of eternal damnation. Nick made no move to hide his smirk, which caused him a not-so-subtle push in the side from AJ, who was trying very hard to keep a straight face. "Yeah, it´s the one. They redecorated a little, but mostly it´s still the same. And from the newspaper the man she was with was reading, they were there yesterday. Which means there is a good chance there will be something there for me to find still."

Around the table the others were nodding and smiles were tugging at the corners of their mouths. What had seemed like an impossible situation now looked to be a little less impossible. At least now they had a solid lead, and that was all they could really ask for. "When do you want to go?" Chris asked, and Brian turned to look at him. "Probably tomorrow right after work. I should take a sick day or something, but I need the money. And besides, I need some of you guys to come with me, and we can´t all take the day of.f" "I can," Lance said, beaming at Brian. "Already made ten grand this week from downloads of my latest video, ´Dance With Lance´, and there are no major issues I need to protest for right now, so I´m all yours sweetie-pie." "Please tell me you are not dancing naked," Kevin said, looking slightly pale at the very thought. "Of course not, that would just be nasty. I´ve got all sorts of costumes thank you very much! My catsuit, and the black leather chaps outfit seems to be peoples favorites."

With Kevin busy burying his head in his hands, trying to get rid of that mental image, Brian grinned at Lance. He might not condone Lance´s choice of income method, but he was making a lot of money and having a lot of fun with it, so who was he to judge. Besides, Lance really did look great in that chaps outfit! "Thanks. Anyone else?" he looked around the table. Chris gave him a nod right away. "Sam can probably manage not to give everyone food poisoning, and those two can do their jobs for once," he waved at Nick and AJ. Nick looked like he was about to say something when AJ reached out to silence him with a light touch on the shoulder. "We´ll hold down the fort, you bring Joey as well to make sure Lance behaves and Brian has enough shoulders to lean on." Joey smiled at Brian, reaching out to put a hand over his on the table. "We´ve got you," he said, and Brian smiled back at him, grateful for the massive support he was feeling.

"Hey! We wanna help too!" Howie exclaimed, poking at JC to make him move a little so he could actually see around him to stare down everyone else at the table, none too happy about being ignored. "We can´t all show up," Chris answered, wildly motioning with his hands. "I got an idea for something we can do," JC said, pushing Howie´s hands away, and leaning over the table towards Brian. "You seemed to remember a lot about the people at her office. Any chance you remember anything else about the place. I don´t know, like a view out a window, or the colors on the walls or a picture or the company logo or anything like that?" "I don´t know," Brian answered. "But I can´t say I´ve tried either. Give me a little time, and I´ll sit down with you and try again. Right now I really just need to close my eyes and stop my brain from thinking." Giving him a reassuring smile, JC got up and started to walk towards the exit. "I´ve gotta get something, and I´ll be back in like an hour or something. Go, rest, stop that brain from thinking!"

After JC left, Brian got to his feet, with a lot of help from Kevin, who lead him to the back where he let himself fall onto the couch Chris used for his daily naps. Nick came back a few moments later with a fresh glass of ice cold water, and a cloth filled with crushed ice that he placed on Brian´s forehead in an attempt to battle the headache that threatened to tear Brian´s head open. Grateful, Brian closed his eyes and tried to get some rest, willing the visions to go away and let him relax for a little while.

**********

When Brian opened his eyes again, the cloth on his forehead was gone, and JC was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall. His smile was one of the first things Brian noticed, and he smiled back, grateful that JC had let him sleep for a little while. "What time it is?" he asked, as he sat up on the couch. "A little after eleven," JC answered as he got up off the floor and walked to sit down on the couch next to Brian.

As he sat down, he picked something up from the floor in front of the couch. It was one of his many man-bags (as Justin called them), and from it he took a sketchbook and some pencils. "I figured I could be your police sketch artist, you know. You describe, I draw, and hopefully we´ll end up with something we can use." Brian smiled, and leaned in to give JC a half hug. "Sounds good," he said, and leaned back a little.

As JC got his pencils ready, Brian closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. In and out, in.. And out.. He felt his body relaxing, and when he felt ready, he tried to think about his vision from the office. It didn´t take long before the boss was shaking her hand again, and the co-worker was giving her a hug.

He tried to shift his focus elsewhere. Behind them he could see other people, but their faces were a bit of a blur, so he couldn´t make out anything. Looking behind them again, he saw a row of windows. He tried to move closer, to look outside, but it because too blurry to make out anything at all.

Turning around in the office, he tried to map out everything he saw, but nothing stood out to him. Aside from the three people he had already seen, everyone else there were a blur, a blur scattered over the office, with the majority congratulating her, and the rest seemingly doing their job. It looked like a regular open office landscape, yet the booths that passed for individual office spaces seemed bigger than what you´d expect, and seemingly placed at random, instead of right next to each other, one after the other.

He looked to the long wall that seemed to separate the office spaces from the hallway and the closed offices of managers and other people higher up on the corporate ladder. There was something written on the wall in large letters, black or gray, and some kind of logo next to it, blue and red maybe, but he couldn´t see it properly. He tried walking closer, but something stopped him. No matter what he tried, he seemed to be just outside the line of sight, almost close enough, yet still so far away. He looked around again, but all he could see was more of what he had already seen, windows, booths, wall, windows, booths, walls. He spun around, looking at every single blurred face he came across, trying to make out some detail about them.

He was starting to feel dizzy, but he kept spinning, kept trying to find something useful. Suddenly he seemed to trip over something, and then he was going down. Reaching out he tried to grab on to something to keep from falling. His right hand touched something, the corner of a desk, but he was unable to get a hold, and he went crashing down, taking several papers from the desk with him. As he lay there, flat on his back, he closed his eyes and tried to make the dizziness go away. After a few deep breaths he felt better, and sat up, looking around at blurred faces who were oblivious to his very presence. He brought his hand up to wipe a drop off sweat from his forehead, but was surprised when he found himself grasping a piece of paper in his hand. As he looked at it, he could see part of the letterhead, a red, blue and gold half circle with parts of something, a wavy line of some sorts, in the middle, and three letters underneath it, BME.

He was about to move his hand a little, to see then rest of the logo, when he hit the floor as he fell head first off the couch.

**********

The thump he made as he hit the floor didn´t sound very loud to him, but it must have been, because before he could even sit up again, the others were coming through the door so fast he couldn´t even tell who was first and who was last. The room seemed a little crammed as nine grown men were trying to reach him and help him to his feet. From somewhere in the mass of bodies, JC emerged and hauled him to his feet, swatting the others away with his sketchbook.

"I´m fine," he tried telling them, but Nick still insisted on supporting his weight, and Kevin felt his forehead and asked him to follow his finger with his eyes. Giving JC a begging look, he tried to push Nick away, but only ended up loosing his balance and falling back on the couch like a sack of potatoes.

"You´re coming home with me tonight," Kevin said, determination in his voice and a no-nonsense look on his face. "I´ll be fine!" he tried telling them again, "I don´t need a babysitter." Raising one eyebrow, Kevin didn´t need to verbalize his answer, the ´NO´was written quite clearly on his face. "Guys, I´m just exhausted, not dying! I just need to get home and go to bed, and I think I will sleep a whole lot better knowing I can have my own cereal in the morning instead of that organic stuff you like so much." He tried to give Kevin a grin, but he was pretty sure it came out more like a grimace.

"I´ll stay with him," Nick said, and when Kevin looked like he was about to argue he raised a hand to silence him. "I´ll make sure he sleeps in and eats something extremely unhealthy for breakfast. So, you know, he´ll be fine. Now someone call us a cab, I really don´t wanna be carrying him home on the subway. Besides, he´s a lot heavier when standing for some reason!"

**********

Brian woke before his alarm went off the next day, feeling like someone had dragged him through hell and back before dumping him in his bed. He had vague memories of Nick undressing him (probably why he was sleeping naked, and not wearing boxers like he usually did), and a soft snoring sound told him Nick had made good on his promise to stay with him. Curling up to the sleeping form next to him, he glanced at the alarm, daring it to go off in the next ten minutes, and closed his eyes, strangely awake, yet not ready to get up and face the new day.

The alarm went off after eleven minutes, and Brian dragged himself out of bed, noticing in passing that it had actually gone off half an hour later than it should have. He smiled in Nick´s direction, silently thanking him, and got a loud snore in return. Shaking his head he grabbed some clothes and headed for the shower.

Ten minutes later when he walked into the kitchen, wearing boxers and a tank top, he nearly tripped over discarded clothing (Nick´s, he had a habit of leaving them everywhere), shocked to find Nick at the stove, making bacon and eggs, singing to on old AC/DC song on the radio, and looking far more awake than should be allowed.

"Morning sunshine," Nick said with a smile, "I´m making you breakfast." Shaking his head to see if that would wake him from dreaming (it had to be a dream after all, Nick never got up early, was never this awake, and Kevin was the one with a habit of stating the obvious!), he walked over to give Nick a kiss on the cheek once he realized that he wasn´t dreaming, and that Nick was in fact standing at his stove, cooking him breakfast, apparently doing so without burning down the kitchen. "Get some orange juice from the fridge, will you?! This is almost done."

Brian did as Nick asked, amused at how easily Nick seemed to slip into his domestic ´taking care of Brian´role, and a little uneasy as well. A happy Nick this early in the morning usually meant trouble!

They ate in silence, mostly because he was stuffing his face. He hadn´t noticed it before, but he was famished, and he barely even noticed how Nick barely ate anything at all, but instead gave him however much he wanted. Once they were done Nick cleaned up while he got dressed and brushed his teeth, and then Nick decided to walk him to work, making meaningless conversation the entire time, as if he knew that Brian needed to focus on something else right now, he needed to rest his mind for a while, to recharge his batteries for later that day.

At work his manager looked a little worried when he arrived (he had forgotten to call, but finding Nick cooking in ones kitchen would have made anyone forget), and asked if he was feeling OK, and if he needed the day off. "I´m fine," Brian answered him, but he could tell his manager didn´t believe him. ´I must look as bad as I feel´ he thought as he headed into the back to hang up his things. A quick check in the mirror confirmed that suspicion. His face looked more grey than anything else, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

The day passed faster than he had thought it would, considering he felt like crap and his headache had started to come back. Around lunchtime Nick and AJ appeared, but instead of taking him with them to the bar, they had brought the bar to him. Or at least food from the bad. Chris had packed them sandwiches, and Nick must have told him about Brian´s appetite, because Chris had made him two sandwiched instead of one. Even so, he was still hungry when he finished, and found himself staring at the rest of AJ´s food, a whole half piece of sandwich he hadn´t gotten around to eating yet. Understanding, AJ passed it to him with a smile, but he could see that he was worried about him, they both were.

After lunch his manager asked him to help with the paperwork, something he usually hated to do, but today it was a blessing. He could sit down, and even though staring at a computer screen didn´t help with his headache, he still felt a whole lot better than walking around going over the inventory or being out in the café.

He left half an hour early. After he had finished the paperwork the manager all but threw him out, telling him to take it easy and that if he needed it he could take a few days off, get some rest. He had tried telling him that he was fine, and didn´t need it, but as he stood on the subway on his way to the bar, he realized that a day or two off was probably a good idea when he almost fell asleep standing upright, leaning on a complete stranger who gave him a look that clearly stated that he would find himself knocked unconscious if he didn´t stop it right that instant.

He was meeting the others at the bar, but when he arrived, none of them were there yet, so he sat down around their usual table, and leaned back to close his eyes and rest for a little while. He fell asleep almost at once, and when he woke up, the other three were sitting quietly around the table, looking at him, concern written all over their faces.

**********

Chris stayed by his side the entire walk there, seemingly ready to catch him if he would fall. Lance and Joey were right behind them, staying so close Lance would walk right into him whenever he slowed down for a second.

The conversation had been light the entire walk from the bar. The restaurant was about ten blocks away, but the subway didn´t go straight there, they would have to change, and taking a taxi just seemed like a waste of money. Besides, Brian was happy they would be walking. While he was starting to feel as exhausted as he looked, he still found it refreshing to walk around outside, and not be trapped on the subway. At least this way, he would have some control over who he touched or not.

"So, you haven´t been here since Kevin´s promotion, huh?" Joey asked from behind him. He remembered telling them a little while ago how this place had the best lasagna he had ever tasted (that wasn´t his mothers or his own), and he figured that was what had spurred this out of the blue question. "Nope," he replied. "Just mentioning the place makes Kevin start hyperventilating. Still traumatized." Lance snorted, trying not to laugh out loud, which caused Chris to throw him a look that said very clearly that should he fail to hold that laughter in, he may just find himself hurting a whole lot. With everything that had been going on that day, Brian sometimes forgot Chris had his own traumas to work through from that night.

"One of these days I´m just gonna bring him back," Brian said, trying to be subtle about changing the subject, while still making a point at how some people should really get over hair related traumas. After all, everything had grown back (as far as Kevin was concerned) or been re-styled a thousand times. "Sounds like a plan," Joey nodded. "We´ll go with you," Lance added, and grinned at Chris.

"So, have a plan?" Chris asked, not really caring about being subtle with his switch in conversation, and the bluntness of the question cost him a slap over the head from both Joey and Lance, simultaneously. While Brian through he could have asked a bit nicer, he did understand where Chris was coming from. That night was a sore subject, and them making fun of it to avoid talking about where they were going and why they were going there just didn´t seem very fair.

"I´m gonna go in, find the table, touch the hell out of it and pray I get something," he said, shrugging. "Good plan," Chris replied, and grinned as he gave him a less than manly hug, kissing him on the cheek and, for some reason and probably by accident, brushed against his ass as he did so. "Awww," Lance cooed from behind them, and turning Brian could see him making a move to hug and kiss Joey, who was laughing as he mocked-battled Lance away, thrusting his wedding ring in Lance´s face and telling him that he was too late.

The good mood stayed with them the final two blocks, but the moment they stepped into the restaurant, they all went silent, and the three of them fell back behind him, waiting for him to make a move. Looking around he tried letting down his defenses a little, opening himself up to the emotions in the air surrounding him. He was hit at once with a wave of mixed emotions so strong he coldn´t tell if these were from the past, present or future.

Looking around he could see the table the woman had been sitting at, and by stroke of luck it was available. He walked right up to the hostess, who was busy talking to one of the employees (he was about to get fired), and requested the table, grabbing Chris by the hand as he explained how it was where they had sat a year ago on their first date, and how they were now heading to Canada to get married, but wanted to have a few drinks here before they went. One look at Chris, who was putting on quite a performance (this time the hand on his ass was definitely not an accident), and she was sold, and with a big smile escorted them to their table.

"You´re good," Joey said in a low voice as they sat down, and ordered a bottle of champagne just to sell their story even more. Taking Chris´ raised eyebrows when he looked at the menu to mean that the champagne was not on the cheap side, he put a hand on his shoulder and said "don´t worry, Lance´s treat!" Taking the menu from Chris as looking at the price, Lance only shrugged, "no problem."

As the champagne arrived, Brian had half a glass before he felt ready to try again. With all the people in here, and everything that went down in a place like this from day to day, he knew the wave he had felt earlier was nothing compared to how bad it could be. Usually these were things he never picked up on, residual emotions of one kind or another, not unless he went looking for them. So today, the day after the woman was here, he was hoping there might still be something there, something like what he had found in the subway station.

He closed his eyes, and started to breathe more slowly, more controlled. He tried to clear his mind, started to let down his defenses, started to let things back in. He worked slowly, and shut out everything that was of no use to him. He focused even more, this time on the table alone. He let his hands run over it, around the sides and underneath it. He took another deep breath, and pictured the table in his head, tried to feel it in his head, to smell the woodwork, make it come alive.

_The woman in front of him was maybe twenty-two years old. She had long blond hair, and her eyes were as green as emeralds. His lips were moving, he was saying something. She turned to look as he held out a small box in his hand. Her facial expression changed. She was smiling, then crying, then smiling again. Her lips formed a word. Everyone around them started clapping. People were smiling, some were even hugging, as if what had happened between the man and the woman had any effect on them. Champagne was brought. There were sparklers and ice cream. More tears in the midst of laughter and smiles. She was looking into his eyes. Smiling. YES!_

**********

JC looked up from his sketchpad to find Howie and Nick staring at him from across the room. He had no idea how long they had been standing there, but judging from the look on Howie´s face when he took a sip of his beer (probably to look less conspicuous) it had been long enough for the beer to warm up in his hand.

"Tell me you got something," Nick said, walking over to sit down next to him. Howie followed, leaving the beer behind. He pushed his sketches over so they could have a look at them. The first few were rough sketches of the boss and the coworker, as well as a more detailed one of the office. It was the last one he had the most hoped for. It was his rendering of the partial logo Brian had described. It was all there, including the three letters from the company name. It wasn´t much, but it was more than nothing.

"This doesn´t look familiar," Nick noted, looking at the logo. "Let me see," Kevin asked, sitting down opposite them, Justin and AJ leaning in over his shoulder to have a look as well. Nick pushed the sketch over the table, and they all watched as the other three had a look, crossing their fingers and toes that one of them would recognize it from somewhere. After a few second Kevin shook his head slowly, and from the looks on their faces, Justin and AJ didn´t know it either.

"So, what do we do now?" Justin asked as he pulled up a chair and slumped down into it. "I got some cousins in real estate, the paper industry and some other places," Howie pulled the sketch closer to have another look. "I can pass around a copy, have them check around, maybe they´ll come up with something." "Good idea. And I can check with the law firm, maybe someone there will know it," Kevin said. "And the rest of us will hit the net," Nick said and smiled, looking around the table. "I´ll go make copies right now," JC said, getting up from the table and gathering up his sketches.

Kevin volunteered to go with him, ready to hit the sack as soon as they were done. He was in the middle of a case, and since he did his best work in the mornings, he usually got up at four thirty in the mornings these days. As JC and Kevin walked out the door, the rest moved over to the bar. Nick, Justin and AJ had to get back to work, this was usually their busiest hours, and Howie pulled up a stool and waved for Sam to get him a new beer, and this time, he was actually planning on drinking it.


	6. Part Five

On the way back from the restaurant the four of them walked in silence, no one feeling like they had anything to say that could make this situation seem better than it was. This had been their best hope, and they had struck out. As they walked into the bar, how they felt must have been written quite clearly on their faces, for the smile on AJ´s face as he saw them come in faded right away. They had barely made it to the back room (ll the tables were taken) before Howie, AJ, Nick and Justin were right there with them, Kevin and JC the only ones missing.

"So, I take it it didn´t go very well," Nick stated, and Joey´s snort seemed to answer that well enough. "Someone fucking proposed earlier today!" Brian´s voice was loud enough to make Nick flinch a little, and as he flung out his hands in irritation he hit Howie hard enough to make the man take a few steps back. "Sorry," he mumbled, but Howie was quick to make a dismissive hand gesture, letting him know he was fine.

Taking a few deep breaths he continued. "Proposals are a wonderful thing and all that, but they seriously fuck everything up. The entire room was vibrating with happy emotions, and since they had been sitting at the same damn table, whatever might have been left from last night was completely eviscerated." He let himself fall down on the couch, burying his face in his hands, ready to all it quits, too tired to give a damn.

Nick sat down next to him, put a hand around his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "Don´t give up yet," he said, kissing Brian´s shoulder lightly. "JC got a plan!" Brian raised his head and turned to look at him. "Really?" he asked, hope seeping back into his voice. "Yup" AJ replied, squatting down in front of him. "We´re gonna take that logo of yours and show it around. Howie´s got cousins everywhere apparently, and Kevin´s gonna take time out of his busy schedule to have his law buddies have a look."

Brian looked from Nick to AJ, his face beaming. "And the rest of us are gonna hit the net. Google the hell out of it until we find something!" Nick grinned, kissing his shoulder again before getting up, dragging Brian with him.

"See, a plan," Justin smiled, and the others nodded as well. "So now you can get some rest," Chris said, taking Brian´s arm, leading him towards the door. "You´re starting to look like someone who´s about a week past their due date, if you know what I mean," he joked, and he continued to lead Brian towards the exit. Brian had to laugh a little, knowing full well he probably looked about as tired as he felt. "OK, but I´m taking tomorrow off so I can help you guys with the googling," he said, turning to the others. "Fine!" AJ answered. "We´ll be here around ten," Nick said, and from behind him Justin mouthed ´noon´, holding up ten and then two fingers.

**********

_It´s dark all around him, and as he tries to take a few steps he stumbles over something lying on the ground. He looks down, but it´s too dark to see what it was. He tries to take another step forward. Nothing o the ground now. Ahead of his he was see lights, and he slowly works his way over, looking down but still unable to make out the ground beneath his feet._

_One second the lights are still far away, then suddenly they are right there in front of him. They are coming from an open door leading out to where he is standing. He takes a step forward, but once again almost stumble over something. He looks down again, a reflex, but is surprised when he can see the ground this time, and the trash spread out around him._

_He looks around again, and he is no longer surrounded by complete darkness, but by the outer walls of several buildings. He recognizes the place. He´s back in the alley, and this time he is alone._

_He turned slowly, trying to see if he sees anything that is familiar, anything that can give him a hint of where this alley is. It looks like every other dark and somewhat abandoned alley, the kind you don´t walk down unless you absolutely have to. On the wall opposite him he can see the upper half of a broken sign, a single red rose the only thing that is left on it. Beside the sign on the wall someone has tagged a name, Gothsa-something. The paint on the walls used to be red once, but now they are so dirty it doesn´t look like anyone has bothered with them in years._

_He turns back to the source of the light. It´s coming through the door some somewhere else, but when he tries to take a step towards it, it moves away at the same time. This is as close as he is going to get._

_The door opens again, and he can hear music coming from inside. It closes, yet the light remains, even though there are no streetlights anywhere. It opens again, and this time he can see the wall on the other side. Neon green and silver. It closes again. The alley turns, and there she is. Standing there, looking around. Nervous. He tries to move closer, to get a good look of her face, but it´s still just a blur. Behind him the sound of music rises for a second as the door opens again. He half turns, looks at it. Turing back she is gone. The light is gone. The music is gone. Everything is gone. Everything but the gun. BANG!_

Brian hit the floor, his body covered in sweat, sheet tangled at the bottom of the bed. Running a hand over his face he tried to calm his breathing. ´Shit´ he thinks, getting up from the floor and lying back down on the bed. "Shit!"

**********

Nick and AJ are sitting by the bar when Brian walks into the BoneDry around eleven the next day. As he walks over to join then Chris appears from the kitchen, only to turn and head back in again right away. From their table in the corner JC looks up from the laptop sitting in front of him. He nudges Justin, sitting net to him with another laptop, and they both head over.

Sitting down he rests his head in in arms, and closes hie eyes for a second. "I had a dream," he says after a little while. He doesn´t need to explain what kind of dream he is talking about. Though he doesn´t have premonition dreams often, they do occur every now and then, and they are usually never about anything good.

"What did you see?" AJ asks, his hand running small circles on Brian´s lower back, soothing him. "The alley," he starts. "I got more details, walls mostly, but there was this club. It had a back door or something leading into the alley. It opened a few times." He took a deep breath, and turned to JC. "You think we can do that drawing thing of yours again?" JC smiles at him, and goes to get his drawing materials before heading into the back room.

"You sure you are up to this?" Nick asks him, a worried look on his face. "I gotta be," he replies, and smiles what he´s hoping looks like a reassuring smile. As he gets up Chris emerges from the kitchen, carrying a plate with a piece of what looks like chocolate cake. Handing it to him he smiles and shrugs. "Chocolate cake always helps me when I´m not feeling too hot. And also, I couldn´t sleep last night, so, you know, I made cake."

"Thank you," Brian says, taking the plate and heading into the back room. He puts the plate on the table in the corner, and lies down on the couch, not wanting a reprise or what happened last time. JC already has his sketchpad and pencils out, sitting on the floor with his back against the couch. "Just tell me what you saw."

Brian closes his eyes, steadies his breathing, and try to picture the alley in his mind. At first everything is dark, like it had been in his dream. But after a little while the light comes back, and he is staring at the red wall. He quickly tries to describe the graffiti on the wall, but he still can´t see it clearly, so he moves on, turns around in his head, towards the music.

He can see the closed door to the club, a concrete stair with three steps leading up to it, the area around littered with trash bags and someone didn´t bother to move the twenty feet to the container standing by the wall. There is no sign on the outside, nothing that indicates what kinds of club this is.

He concentrates, and opens the door in his mind. In the background he can still hear the music, like a dull ace almost, it´s there, but he is not able to make out what song is playing or even what kind of music it is. Inside the door he can see a wall. It´s mostly black, but there is also green and silver. He tries to focus, to see the colors more clearly. They seem to make a swirling pattern, but he can´t tell for sure. He looks for a logo, but there is none. Just the wall and the colors.

He opens his eyes, finding himself still lying on the couch. Turning his head he finds JC looking at him, a couple of rough sketches in his hands. "You get anything?" he asks. "Not much from the alley itself, but I got a decent one from the open door to the club," he answers as he gets up from the floor. Sitting up from the couch Brian is thankful when JC hands him the plate with chocolate cake. Even though it seemed like their little session only took a few minutes, his stomach tells him differently. As he eats the cake, JC goes over the the door and motions for the others to join them.

They enter the room just as Brian finishes the cake, Nick hanging back at the door, keeping one eye on the bar and the other completely focused on him. JC lays his sketches out on the table, and explains what they are showing and how Brian had described it to him. As he comes yo the one showing the inside of the bar, Brian notices how JC´s rendering of the swirling pattern is very close to the one he saw in his dream. He couldn´t remember describing it that well.

"I´ve seen that before!" Chris says, picking up the sketch. "You remember where?" AJ asks, looking at the sketch over Chris´ shoulder. "No.." Chris shakes his head. "Just… I know I´ve seen it before." JC takes the sketch and looks at it again. "OK, I guess we´re going bar hopping tonight then," he says, and folds the sketch to put on his bag. "You wanna hit every bar in the city?" Chris asks, looking at him with raised eyebrows. "I´m sure you can narrow it down to a general area Chris. You just need to sit down and concentrate, do some breathing exercises or something." He narrowly escapes Chris´ hand hitting his head by ducking, and backs away to stay out of reach as he grins.

"I´m pretty sure I remember what part of the city it´s in," Chris says, not moving to follow JC, content to give him a look that clearly states he will get him back sooner or later. "Well then, it´s a date," Nick says from the doorway. "You and Justin hit the clubs, and the rest of us will continue to search the internet for that logo thing." "And you´re gonna stay here and eat the sandwich Chris is about to make for you, and then you are going to lay back down and sleep," AJ says, leaning down to kiss the top of Brian´s head before he herds the others back to the bar, closing the door behind them.

**********

_It´s dark all around him, and not a sound can be heard. He doesn´t move, doesn´t need to. He knows where he is. He is waiting for the music to start, like it did the last time. Waiting for the light to appear, like last time. But nothing happens. There is no music, no light, nothing. Just darkness._

_Suddenly there is someone behind him. He turns to find the woman standing when her back to him. She turns, slowly, looking around. Her face is still a blur, yet he still knows what she´s feeling, he still knows she is looking nervously around, like she is looking for someone._

_She takes a few steps, looking around again, like she is being followed. He tried to follow, but she doesn´t appear to be moving away from him, no matter how many steps he can see her take._

_She stops, staring straight ahead. Then she´s gone, and all that is left is the gun. He can´see who´s holing it, isn´t even sure someone actually is holding it. It´s just there. He looks at it for the longest time, but nothing happens. He looks around, trying to find the woman again, but she´s not there anymore. It´s just him, and the gun. BANG!_

He sits up, reaching out, grabbing hold of the back of the couch. He´s covered with sweat again, and starts to shiver. He´s still in the back room, his sandwich sitting half-eaten on his plate. He rubs his eyes and checks his watch. Eleven thirty p.m. He´s been sleeping for almost twelve hours.

He gets up and walks back into the bar. The others are all there, except for Chris and JC, who must not be back yet. Most of them are sitting at their table, Nick and AJ helping Dean at the counter. As they seem him, Nick yells something into the kitchen, and two seconds later Sam emerges. They must have called him in to work an extra shift, because he wasn´t supposed to work tonight. They say something to Sam and Dean, and then walk over to join them at the table.

He sits down and looks around the table, meeting everyone's eyes before he talks. "I had another dream. We´re running out of time!"

**********

Brian goes through what happened in the dream quickly, it´s not like he learned anything new about where it would happen. All that he saw was things he had already seen in another vision or dream. It´s the feeling the dream left him with that he lingers with. The reason for his visions, her death, is coming closer. They are running out of time, and he is starting to worry they will be too late.

"We´ll find her," AJ says, reassuring him. He is about to protest, to tell AJ that he can´t know that for sure, Justin and Chris comes bursting through the door, almost knocking over two tables and one slightly unstable and probably heavily intoxicated middle-aged man before literally sliding to a halt in front of the table. "We found it!" they yell in unison, the both of the grinning like madmen.

"You did?" Brian asks, looking from one to the other. "The Eclipse," Chris says with a grin. "I knew I´d been there before. You don´t find many places with neon green and silver decorations you know." "Only took us about a dozen tries too," Justin says, "clearly he was not entirely sober the last time he was there, because while he remembered the inside of the club perfectly, he somehow managed to forget that it was located near not one but three sex shops! You know he had to be trashed to forget something like that!" Chris makes a move to punch Justin´s shoulder, but he manages to dodge it, almost falling over Kevin´s lap as he does so.

"Brian had another dream while you were gone," Howie tells them once Justin is back on his own two feet. They both sober up immediately and look at him with concerned looks. "You all right?" Chris asks. "I´m fine!" Brian replies, but he has a feeling they don´t quite believe him. "Nothing new, just. It was a warning you know. A timer going off in my head telling me we are running out of time."

"Any indication on how much time we have left?" JC asks him. "Not much. But I´m pretty sure…" he is interrupted by Howie´s cell phone. Checking the caller id Howie gets up from the table and makes a ´I gotta take this´ signal as he hurries to the back to talk a little more privately. Watching him go, curious as to who was calling, Brian continues. "Eh, yeah. I´m pretty sure it´ll happen after her promotion. Like, not the same day, but within a few days."

"So, now we just need to know when she got promoted. Which means we also need to know who she is, and where she works," Kevin says, his voice sounding less than enthusiastic. "Or we can just stake out the alley," Justin suggests. "That´s a good backup plan Justin, but…" JC looks from Justin and then across the table at Brian. "I don´t think we should give up on the logo just yet. I mean, knowing which day it´ll happen would give us an advantage, you know. Besides, ten people hanging out in an alley night after night might raise suspicion, you know. And the last thing we need is for whoever this killer is to change the plan at the last minute". Brian nods, he can see what JC means. If the killer thinks they are going to be in the way, he or she might decide to kill the woman somewhere else, and there is a good chance he won´t be able to see that change until it´s already too late to save her.

"So, back to the internet?" Nick asks, and he shrugs, so Nick opens up his laptop again, continuing the search. He is in mid type when Howie returns and closes the laptop over his hands. "Hey!" Nick yells at him, and swats his hands away. Howie ignores him and closes the laptop completely. "What?" Nick asks him, a little annoyed. "No need," Howie replies, and turns to Brian. "BME. Blake Moon Enterprises." He grins, and waves his phone in the air, "that was my cousin, he came through. Sent over a jpeg of the logo, and it´s a match for the one JC sketched. It´s some kind of consulting business, and I´ve even got an address!" "I could kiss you," Brian leans back and rests his head against the wall, closing his eyes, feeling like someone just lifted the weight of the world off his shoulders.

"Their offices open early, but I think our best bet is to head over around noon tomorrow. Not too early, you know," Howie looks around the table, and they all nod, agreeing with his line of thought. "So, who goes?" Joey asks. He´s been quiet until now, content with listening to what the others have been saying. "I have to put in a few hours at work in the morning," Kevin says "but I can take the afternoon and evening off, and, if you need me too, I can take the day after off entirely. This is more important than my case, plus, I´ve got like two weeks to prepare anyway." Brian smiles at him before he turns back to Joey to answer his question. "You need to work?" he asks, and is relieved when Joey shakes his head. "Taking some personal days." "OK, so you´ll come, and maybe Nick or AJ, Howie, Lance and JC."

Justin is about to protest being left out when AJ places a hand firmly on his shoulder. "Your turn to stay behind barista. Not to worry though, Chris and I´ll be here to keep you company, while Nick goes with Brian to make sure he doesn´t fall over or something." When Brian makes a grunt-like noise in protest to the comment about his health, he is silenced by AJ´s ´you look like crap man´ look, complete with one raised eyebrow. "So, we´ve got a plan then," Joey states, looking around the table. When no one protests he gets up from the table. "It´s getting late and I have a wife to get home to. We´ll meet up here tomorrow around eleven?" Brian nods a yes in reply, and Joey grabs his coat, waving goodbye as he walks out the door to hail a cab home. Suddenly realizing just how late it is, JC and Lance both decide it´s time to head home as well. Chris says something about not bothering to go home since he gotta open up tomorrow anyways, and retreats into the back room to spend the night on the couch there. Letting Justin close up, Nick and AJ walk Brian to the curb and hail down a cab for him. After holding the door open for him and making sure the driver has the right address, they both give him a quick kiss on the cheek before saying good night and closing the door with a "see you tomorrow".

**********

Blake Moon Enterprises is located at the thirty-seventh floor of a massive skyscraper, and as they cram everyone into the elevator, Brian wonders if maybe they should have gone in a smaller group. They arrive in a lobby area, and decide to split up and have a quick look around before they start to ask questions. Lance drags JC and Howie off in one direction, and Brian head the other way along with Nick and Joey.

Walking around a corner and into the office space, it feels like déjà vu. Looking around he his vision flashes before his eyes. Everything is like it was in his dream, except for the fact that there are no decorations or celebrations. People are sitting at their desks doing their job instead of gathered around a woman celebrating her promotion.

"Look!" Nick nudges him and points to one of the trash cans in the corner. Over the top used party decorations are hanging down to the floor. "Party must have been recent for that still to be there," Joey notes, and Nick nods in agreement, just as the other three join them, having see the decorations from across the room. "So, ask the lady at the front desk?" JC suggests. "You and Howie go," Brian replies, pointing to Lance. JC might be a good talker, but he dresses weird, even for an artist, and he just can´t see the nice elderly lady at the front desk giving any information to a man dressed in something that looked like paint had thrown up all over it.

As Lance and Howie goes to get information, he leads the others back to the side of the lobby, trying to stay a little out of the lady´s line of sight, just in case she remembered they had come in in a larger group. They watch as Howie says something that makes the lady smile and what looked like blush a little. Then she said something else, beaming at something Lance said, and then pointing towards the elevator. Lance and Howie turn to look, but the doors are already closing. Thanking the lady they hurry towards the elevator, covertly motioning for them to follow, impatiently pressing the button several times.

"The promotion was yesterday, her name is Susan Marsden, and we just missed her," Howie explains when they join them by the elevator, pressing the button once more as if it´ll make the elevator come back any quicker.

When the doors finally open they rush in, and before the doors can close Brian is already running his fingers over the buttons, trying to get something off them that can help them.

_BANG!_

He pulls his hand back quickly. "Tonight," he says. "It´ll happen tonight!"

**********

As they exit the building, a plan is already brewing in Brian´s mind. "Did any of you get a good look at her?" He asks Lance and Howie. Howie shakes his head, he didn´t get a good enough look at her, so Brian turns to look at Lance. "I caught her reflection in the elevator right before the doors closed," he says slowly. "If you see her again, will you recognize her?" he asks, and after a few seconds Lance nods.

"Good," Brian says relieved, his plan was depending on at least one of them being able to recognize her on sight. He tells Lance to stay put, keep an eye on the building, and he will send someone to join him as soon as possible. Brian´s plan is pretty simple. Some of them will stay at the office building, waiting for her. With any luck, she will come back, and they will be able to keep an eye on her, and when she leaves, they can follow her and maybe find out who, if anyone, is following her. The rest of them will return to the bar. Someone will have to stay and keep an eye on the place, while the rest head over to the alley. If she doesn´t return to her office, that is the only other place they know for sure she will be, so that is where they will have to wait for her.

Leaving Lance to wait alone, they hurry back to the bar to tell the others of the plan. When they arrive, Kevin has already arrived, and is keeping AJ and Justin company at the bar. Brian quickly fills them in on the plan, and when he finishes, Kevin volunteers to be one of the people staying behind. "You should stay too," Brian says, looking at Joey. When he looks like he is about to protest he raises a hand to stop him. "You´re married, and I really don´t want to have to be the one who explains to your wife why you are spending the evening in a dark alley waiting for a murder to go down." Joey clearly doesn´t like being left behind, but he understand where Brian is coming from, and instead of voicing his protests he just nods in agreement.

Turning to Chris and Justin, Brian asks them if they wouldn´t mind joining Lance at the office building. They both agree, and decide to head off immediately, so if she comes back and moves again, Lance won´t have to follow her alone. After they leave, JC, Howie, Nick and AJ all look at him, waiting for him to decide their next move.

"Anyone have warm coats or something with them?" Brian asks, looking around, and in met my shaking heads all around. "So, go home and get some?" AJ asks, and Brian smiles in return. "Probably a good idea. Meet back here in an hour and then head over to the club?"


	7. Part Six

They arrived at the Eclipse a little after six, following Chris' sketchy directions and religiously using the GPS map function on Howie's cell phone. Walking past the front entrance, noting that the place won't open for another two hours or so, they head down the street looking for the entrance to the alley. They find it a around the corner, and walking down it, Brian knows they are at the right place. Everything looks just like it did in his dreams, right down to the faded red color of some of the walls, overfilled dumpsters and scattered trash bags around the clubs back door.

As they walk down slowly, he looks around for places they can hide. On the way down they had a long discussion about what exactly they were going to do when they came here. One thing they all agreed on was that calling the police was out of the question. Even though it seemed like the obvious solution, the problem was how they were going to explain to the police how they knew someone was going to get killed. As AJ had pointed out, the police weren't going to act on the word of a psychic. And if they called, weren´t believed, and they were somehow unable to save her, they would be the first people the police arrested for her murder, and chances were they would be the last as well, as prior knowledge of the crime was probably enough to land them all in jail for murder, even if there was no other evidence.

In the end, they had come to the conclusion that they had to stop this on their own, as crazy as that might be. Once they had decided that, they had started to think of a plan. Howie had figured splitting up in the alley would be their best option. Some would be closer to the back door of the, ready to try and get the woman to safety while the others, hidden closer to the street, would distract her killer in some way. Hopefully the presence of other people there would be enough to scare him away. As Nick had been quick to point out, the plan pretty much sucked, but it was all they had, so it would have to do.

Thankfully the alley offered plenty of hiding places. Three large dumpsters about halfway between the street and the back door offered the perfect location for the ones dealing with the killer, while the smaller dumpsters and a small mountain of everything from furniture to cardboard and trash would do the job of hiding her rescuers. Nick and JC would stay in the middle of the alley, ready to distract her killer when he was passing in some way or another. They had already decided that jumping out yelling or shouting would not be an option, as it could ultimately make the killer shoot at random. Instead, a more subtle distraction was brewing in Nick's head, one that would let the killer know he was not alone, and hopefully make him change his mind and simply walk away. Not the perfect solution, but it would save her life. Meanwhile, Brian, AJ and Howie would hide by the door, ready to get her to safety if she needed it. They had decided to split up a little, each hiding in a different spot around the door, so they could cover more ground and not have to risk her standing out of their reach if the killer made a move.

No one voiced what they were all thinking, that this would make the list of the top ten most stupid plans ever, and that they were probably all going to end up dead along with her. Brian had tried touching some of the things in the alley, but aside from the flash of the gun, and the sound of it going off ringing in his ears, all he got was blurred flashes of nothing at all. He knew that the fact that they were here ready to interfere made her future uncertain. Right now there were too many variables, and he was one of them, and if there was one constant with his visions, it was that he never saw anything directly related to his own future.

They walked around a little, getting familiar with their surroundings, as the one thing Brian did know for a fact was that only one street lamp worked in the alley, which meant most of it would be all but completely dark when she arrived. That was one thing both his visions and his dreams had been clear about, when she got killed, the alley was dark as a tomb. This also meant she would not arrive for at least a few hours, so they took their time, setting up their hiding places, and Nick finally letting JC in on his master plan of how to distract a cold blooded killer without getting shot in the process.

A little before eight-thirty they finally retreated to their hiding places, cell phones the only way to communicate, all set to vibrate so a ringing phone wouldn't blow the entire thing. Settling down, all they could was wait, and hope the people at the office would be able to follow her and give them a heads up when she was coming.

**********

Lance had stationed himself on a bench on the plaza outside the office building, coffee from a nearby street vendor in hand, pretending to read a paper while never taking his eyes off the entrance to the office building. As Chris and Justin arrived, he filled them in on everything that had happened when he was waiting, a story that lasted two sentences, starting with ´lots of people walked by´and ending with ´she's not one of them´.

After getting another two coffees from the vendor, Lance tried to describe the woman to Justin and Chris, in hopes that they could split up to cover more ground, but since medium height, dark hair and a dark coat could be about a fourth of the women who walked by them, they decided that it would be better to stick together.

As the clock ticked by six, and the office building was closing down, lights going out wherever they weren't needed, they were starting to loose hope she would come back. It would seem she would go straight to the alley, and they would be unable to give the others a heads up. This also meant they would not be able to help the others, as another three people showing up at the alley now could screw up everything.

"She's not going to come back," Justin said, voicing what they had all been thinking for the past hour. "I know," Lance answered. "But still… We should wait a little longer," he added. It wasn´t that he thought she would show up, it was the fear that if they left, she did show up, and they would miss her because they gave up. But he also knew that if they stayed, she wouldn't show, and they could have left hours ago. It was an impossible choice, and none of them wanted to make it yet.

An hour later she was still nowhere to be seen, and Lance was starting to loose feeling in his toes. "I'll message Brian," Chris said, reaching for his phone, stopped by Lance handing over his own phone. "Yours is where you left it charging underneath the bar," he explained, as Chris quickly typed up a text and sent it to Brian, knowing he at least would have remembered to turn his phone on silence. Throwing the now ragged looking newspaper in the nearest bin, they headed back to the bar.

**********

By ten the alley was in almost complete darkness, and Brian was doing his best to try and stretch his legs without moving around too much, as what little light there was happened to be at his end of the alley, so she would probably be able to see him before he saw her, and the same would be true for whoever was going to follow her into the alley and shoot her.

Wishing he had brought another coat or a blanket, he texted Nick, asking if he saw her, but really just needing to know they were still there, needing to know he wasn't alone. Nick's reply vibrated in ten minutes later, and he had to put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from snorting out loud when he read the message where Nick informed him that she was nowhere in sight yet, and that JC was good for keeping warm, even if he was a bit on the aggressive side, kissing wise. He replied with the universal reply to all things funny (lol), and informed Nick that he might consider more watching and less kissing unless he wanted to come up for air only to find out the whole mess had gone down and everyone else had either gone home or were on the way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.

Another hour was spent forwarding Nick's messages to the others, though he did stop sending them to AJ after he had knocked a garbage can over trying to stop from laughing his ass off. Howie had informed JC that Nick was kissing and telling, which had earned him a picture of Nick's middle finger. Glad that the easy banter was keeping his mind from thinking about the reason they were sitting in the dark, Brian was considering sending Nick back a picture off his nostrils when he got the message they had all been waiting for; SHE'S COMING!

Though it was still too dark to make out details, he could hear footsteps coming down the alley, and a few seconds later (though it seemed like an hour), a woman appeared, and then a text came in from Howie, confirming that this was the woman, and he finally had a face to go with his visions.

She was walking slowly, looking around nervously, just as he had in his visions. He did his best to stay hidden while being able to see her at the same time. She stopped ten feet away from him, almost halfway between Howie and himself, and after scanning their end of the alley, turned to face the entrance, waiting.

He considered getting up, grabbing her and drag her to safety, but he knew that the only way they could be sure they saved her was to wait until her would-be killer arrived and somehow managed to interfere directly in such a way that her killer backed off. They had considered trying to catch him, but for the most part they had agreed that though they may be stupid (they were sitting in a dark and cold alley waiting for a killer after all), but they weren't that stupid.

A shiver ran down his back as he heard another set of footsteps walking down the alley. The woman stood there, glancing around again, and then she took a half step back, closer to him and now standing almost directly in the light from the street lamp. Out from the darkness he could see the outline of a man, long black coat and briefcase in hand. The man stopped as the back door to the bar opened a little and a faint trace of music flowed into the alley, but no one came out, and it quickly shut again.

The man took a hesitant step closer, clutching his briefcase, his eyes locked on the woman. She looked calm, both hands in her pockets, but she didn't take her eyes off the man. Nick and JC hadn't moved yet, but he knew that they wouldn't do that until they were sure this was the man, not wanting to scare off the wrong man, tipping off the real killer in the process. The woman started to walk slowly towards the man, and Brian realized he would have to move a little if he wanted to be able to see her clearly, as there were some trash bags currently obscuring his view.

As he tried to move crouching down, his foot caught on something and he felt himself falling backwards. He flung his arm out, feeling from something to stop his fall, praying to any higher power that would listen that they hadn't heard him. His hand caught on something, he felt a sharp pain his his hand, and then his head felt like it was about to explode.

_BANG!_

_The alley was dark, and there was only the gun._

_BANG!_

_In the darkness he could see a figure falling._

_BANG!_

_Deep red blood stained the ground._

_BANG!_

_There was darkness, and a hand holding the gun._

_BANG!_

_A figure falling, the ground stained red with blood._

_BANG!_

_No emotion in her face as she pulled the trigger._

_BANG!_

The vision hit him like a ton of bricks, and he shot to his feet without thinking, yelling as he moved as fast as he could towards the woman.

"He´s not the shooter. SHE IS!"

**********

As he ran towards the woman, it was as if the world around him was moving in slow motion. He could see Nick and JC appearing from their hiding place further up the alley, surprised and shocked from his statement, taking one look at the woman before they both switched directions and headed for the man with the briefcase. The air felt too thick to move through, his feet so heavy he could barely lift them, like trying to run through water, his lungs screaming for air. He could hear someone screaming his name, it sounded deep and distorted, yet he thought it might be AJ.

Then the woman was turning, and it seemed she was the only one not moving at half speed, like she was the only one still on dry land, while the rest of them were struggling for their lives in the deep water. He could see surprise on her face, and then the light reflected off something she was holding in her hand.

In her hand was the gun from his vision, clear as day, and suddenly the water was gone and everyone was frozen in place instead, all eyes fixed on the gun she was pointing at Brian. Then there was a yell, and Howie was there, pushing her hand upwards as she was distracted for a second, holding her hand up as he punched her in the face and stomach, twisting her arm as she dropped the gun to the ground, and forcing her down on her knees.

AJ was by Howie's side in a second, kicking the gun further away as he helped restrain the woman. From the other end of the alley, JC and Nick were talking to the man with the briefcase, hands all over the place, pointing at Brian an the others, their voices strong enough so the sound carried, yet low enough so they couldn't make out what was being said. Then the man with the briefcase took up his phone, dialed and put it to his ear, as Nick came running back towards them, past them and up to the back door to the bar. He stuck his head inside, yelling something, then moved back and opened the door wide open and one of the club´s bouncers came through. They exchanged a few words, and then the man went back inside, only to emerge a moment later with two others.

"They´ll deal with this," Nick said, slurring his words a little and faking a few drunken steps as he walked over, throwing himself around Brian. "Lets go through the club," he whispered, and Brian allowed himself to be dragged towards the door, his eyes still locked on the woman kneeling on the ground. JC followed closely behind them, and as they reached the door, two of the bouncers had taken over for Howie and AJ, while the third had gone over to the man with the briefcase who was done talking on the phone and now only stood there, white as a sheet in the dim lighting, eyes locked on the gun, the hand not holding the briefcase shaking slightly.

As AJ and Howie reached them at the door, Nick lead them all through the club and out on the other side. As soon as they hit the sidewalk on the other side, Brian felt his feet give out under him and hadn't Nick still had a good hold on him he would have fallen over. Howie and JC quickly hailed a cab each, and with some much needed help from AJ, Nick managed to maneuver Brian into one of them, Howie and JC getting in the other one. As the cab started to move, Brian could hear sirens in the background, and as they drove down the street a whole fleet of flashing blue lights passed by them, heading the other way.


	8. Epilogue

Brian woke up to find himself lying on the couch in the back room at the BoneDry, his friends scattered in various uncomfortable looking positions around the room, Joey being the only one who looked like he had gotten more than half an hour of sleep that night (something he probably had). "You´re awake," Nick stated, smiling up at him from his position on the floor, where he looked to be sitting mostly on top of JC, who in turn was resting his head on Lance´s shoulder.

"Hungry?" Chris asked, making an attempt to untangle himself from Justin and Kevin. "A little," Brian answered honestly, which was followed by the rest of the room informing Chris that they too were hungry. "Fine," Chris said as he finally got loose and made it to the door. "But don´t you dare start telling anything until I finish making breakfast, or you damn well better not eat anything I make you ever again!" he told no one and everyone as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Ten minutes later they were eating their sandwiches in silence at their usual table in the bar, too hungry to bother with small talk or banter. "So, what happened?" Kevin asked as they were all finishing, and after a few seconds of silence, AJ started talking.

He told Kevin about their plan on how to deal with the situation once they arrived at the alley, who had been located where and for what reason. He was taking his time with the details, but left out most of the waiting period, not feeling the need to go into their methods for avoiding boredom while waiting for a potential killer to arrive.

Brian zoned out as AJ talked, trying to stop the night before from playing out in his mind and failing miserably. Closing his eyes he could still the gun slowly turning towards him, and the loud sound of the shot going off that had haunted his visions. "…shooter" Nick said, bringing Brian back to the conversation as Nick took over the storytelling. It took Brian a moment to realize Nick had picked up from when he had had his vision. Nick told them they had rushed out as soon as Brian yelled, only to see a gun in the woman´s hand. Realizing what that meant, they had both rushed towards the man with the briefcase, just as Brian was running and yelling (he couldn´t remember yelling!) at the woman. They had grabbed the man and tried to get him behind some cover, only to turn and find the woman pointing her gun at Brian, AJ running towards him and Howie quickly disarming her with moves they had no idea he had.

"But who was he?" Joey asked, followed by Kevin asking "who was she?" "He was a witness to a murder," Nick explained, "a murder she committed". He quickly told them about how they had asked the man the same question, who was she and why did she want to kill him, and he had told them how he had witnessed her murdering his neighbors one night a few weeks back. The police had tried to place him in protective custody, but he had received a phone call telling him to be at the alley that night, or his family would die. Even though he knew it was a trap, he knew he couldn´t risk his family by telling anyone.

"He asked who we were and how we knew," JC added. "What did you tell him?" Brian asked. "The truth," Nick replied. And it had been the best thing they could have said. For even though the man clearly didn´t believe in visions and things like it, he knew that no matter how they knew, they had saved his life. Thinking quickly, they had made a deal. The man would not tell the police about them, other than to say some drunk men had saved his life by loudly interrupting before she could kill him. That he couldn´t describe them, and that they had disappeared back into the club before the police had arrived.

Glad he never had to try to explain what he could do to the cops, Brian got to his feet, wanting nothing more that to go home and sleep for the next week or so. "You know, even with gun and the potential threat to our lives, and Brian looking like the walking dead, this was actually fun," Justin said as he neared the door. "He´s right," AJ added slowly, shrugging. "It could be a career," Chris added with a smile. "How?" Brian asked, not quite sure he wanted to know the answer. They all looked at each other, raised eyebrows and smirks all around. "I got it," Nick said, his face one large grin.

"Brian Littrell. Gay psychic!"


End file.
